Stoff Studios Q&A

We’re excited to share our latest Q&A – it’s with the brilliant Carys Briggs of Stoff Studios, who is a new artist on A&O. Stoff create a wide range of products from their South London studio including prints, textiles, wallpaper and lampshades. Their collection features bright screen- and mono-printed motifs designed and printed by Carys. In this edition, we discuss how she got into printing, her love of styling, the artists she’s inspired by and the four guests she’d invite to her dream dinner party.

Could you tell us how Stoff began and what led to you setting up the studio?

I began Stoff Studios in 2015 after graduating from my MA at the Royal College of Art. I’d always wanted to set up my own studio, and meeting so many inspiring people during my time at the RCA made me get on and do it! Initially, I worked from our spare room and printed all my fabrics and papers in a big communal space in a railway arch in Bermondsey in South London. I still work with some of the people I met while printing there. It was really eye-opening to see what everyone was working on. There were fashion designers and artists as well as people making the most amazing costumes for the Royal Opera House productions. After a few years, I grew out of our spare room; every time I went in there, I had to take something out first to make room! I moved into a studio down the road in Woolwich and Stoff Studios has grown from there. 

How did you discover screen printing?

I knew I wanted to go to art school after I finished school so I enrolled on the Foundation Year at Camberwell College of Arts in South London and then, on the advice of my tutor, went on to join the Textile BA of another London college, Central St Martins.  I was almost a weaver but realised in the nick of time that I’m far too impatient and did a last-minute switch to the print pathway. It was a steep learning curve but I learnt to control the mess (a bit) and began to love the freedom printing can give you. Once I’d got to grips with the basics of exposing screens and setting up repeats, I was away…there’s so many different ways you can print with a silk-screen. Later on, while I was studying for my MA at the Royal College of Art, I would pin out metres and metres of canvas, making everything to a huge scale.  It felt really exciting to be able to realise ideas so quickly. Eighteen years later, and I’m still in the print room!


Was it a conscious decision to work across different materials like fabric, wallpaper and print or did your products naturally evolve over time?

While I was studying at the RCA, I did sometimes go over to the fine art department and learnt how to use the paper print-beds. It’s a very different way of printing but it allowed me to experiment more with mono-printing and other more painterly ways of making work. When I set up Stoff Studios, I specialised in fabric printing, but soon after graduating I began working with Custhom Studio, who are a specialist handmade wallpaper company making really beautiful papers. It sounds obvious now, but I realised I could hand paint and print my paper to order and I had all the skills that I needed already. I’m a small studio so I plan all my new product launches around one annual photo shoot. This allowed me to broaden my range gradually, learning from my customers what worked and what didn’t. 

We love the presentation of your products. Do you enjoy styling and working with a photographer to bring the pieces to life?

Working with my friend and photographer Tim Smyth each year on our photoshoot is one of the most enjoyable things I do. Throughout the year, I go to car boots, antique fairs and charity shops gathering all the props I need so that on the day of the shoot I have piles of things to use. This year, I had a lovely coat hook from a school cloakroom as well as wooden toys, china cups and tin trays. The shoot itself is always a completely chaotic, frantic day but at the end of it we’ve created a whole new collection. After working on new designs as drawings, and then as samples of fabric and paper on my ink-covered table, it’s so exciting to suddenly see them as ‘real’ things. 

What’s it like having a studio space at Thames-Side Studios in Woolwich? It’s the biggest studio site in Europe, I believe.

I’ve been at Thames-Side since 2019 and I love being here. It has the feel of an art college with its own gallery, communal spaces and open access workshops…and it’s only a 15-minute cycle ride from my house! Sometimes working for yourself can feel slightly lonely so it’s really nice to feel part of a community.


Which artists are you inspired by?

I went to see the Tirzah Garwood exhibition for my birthday in December at the Dulwich Picture Gallery in South London and went away with so many ideas. I’d recently had my first baby and was finding it hard to get back into the same rhythm of work that I’d been used to, but seeing her marbled papers and cardboard house dioramas made me think about new ways of working. I also love Winifred Nicholson. I saw some of her work during a visit to Kettle’s Yard in Cambridge and then accidentally came across her painting Father and Son at the Fitzwilliam Museum on the way back to the station. It’s not often you see the breakfast table from a female artist’s perspective. Pierre Bonnard is another favourite painter. It’s lovely to see domestic scenes painted in such a beautiful way.


Most treasured possession at home?

My mum was always a bit of a collector and as soon as I left home I began collecting glasses. We’ve got a huge collection now! I began with colourful printed beer glasses from a flea market we visited on a trip to Poland and now we have a glass for all occasions. My favourites are a pair of beautiful blue twisty-stemmed Venetian wine glasses. Even our baby Rita drinks from a French cocktail glass covered in screen-printed fruit.

Last exhibition you visited?

I took Rita into town in the sling and had a quick run around the Jose Maria Velasco exhibition while she slept. The pictures are so finely painted and the feeling of space is amazing.  There’s a blue haze to the horizon which feels so airy and vast. 

You can invite four guests to a dream dinner party from any era. Who would they be? 

First, I’d like to invite Elizabeth David to help me work out what to cook for everyone! I love her books with their brightly-coloured covers and beautiful wood-cut illustrations, and I love the way she writes about food. I’d love to talk to Corita Kent about her screen prints. Can I invite fictional characters? I think Lolly Willows from the novel by Sylvia Townsend Warner would be a good dinner guest.  And please can M R James come and tell us a ghost story by the fire afterwards.

Photography by Timothy Chase, Tim Smyth, Lucia Lowther and Chloe Winstanley

Stoff Studios’ Products